Hong Kong’s oldest student group HKFS to dissolve after 68 years amid mounting political pressure

HONG KONG: A pro-democracy student organisation in Hong Kong said on 5 February 2026 that it would dissolve, citing “increasingly severe pressures” faced by its members and supporters.

The Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS), founded in 1958, said the decision followed careful consideration of changing circumstances and would bring its nearly seven-decade history to an end.

In a statement released on Thursday, the group said it had “decided to draw a full stop today”, adding that the pressures confronting the organisation had intensified in recent years.

“We have never been absent from major political and social events throughout the years,” the statement said, highlighting HKFS’s longstanding role in mobilising students and advocating reform.

According to a report by Hong Kong Free Press, Isaac Lai, the chief representative of HKFS, said the group’s standing committee met on Thursday morning and voted to initiate the dissolution process.

Lai said the committee unanimously agreed to disband and that the formal procedures required under the organisation’s constitution would be completed “very soon”.

HKFS’s constitution requires dissolution to be approved by its executive committee and supported by at least three-quarters of representatives at a general assembly to take effect.

Founded in 1958, HKFS is a federation made up of student unions from higher education institutions across Hong Kong and has long been a central platform for student activism.

In a separate Chinese-language statement posted on social media, the group said it had worked for decades to “unite the powers of various higher education institutes” in the city.

“Over the years, we have never been absent from significant political and social events,” the statement read, echoing the English-language announcement.

Lai said in Cantonese that the federation was facing pressures similar to those that had led many university student unions to disband in recent years.

“As you could see, many college student unions in different universities disbanded recently,” he said, adding that HKFS felt it had no alternative but to follow suit.

Before the announcement, the Lingnan University Students’ Union (LUSU) was the federation’s only remaining active member. Lai is also the vice-president of LUSU.

The decision comes against the backdrop of a broader contraction of student activism following the enactment of the Beijing-imposed national security law.

Since the law took effect, multiple student unions have either dissolved or suspended operations, citing legal risks and a lack of institutional recognition.

In June 2025, four former and current student union members at Lingnan University were arrested for allegedly misappropriating HK$1.3 million from union funds.

The individuals have not been prosecuted to date, and Lai said they continue to report regularly to police under their bail conditions.

Following those arrests, HK01 reported in June 2025 that HKFS would be dissolved immediately, citing an emailed statement attributed to the federation.

That statement alleged that Lai and another member, Charles Ng, had transferred funds from HKFS bank accounts without approval and said the group’s assets would be donated to the Community Chest.

Lai later denied the claims, saying at the time that “unknown parties” had impersonated the federation to spread false information about its dissolution.

In its early years, HKFS was aligned with pro-Beijing positions but shifted in the 1980s to support pro-democracy movements in Hong Kong and mainland China.

The federation was a founding member of the alliance that organised annual vigils to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, events that have been banned since 2020.

After the 1997 handover, HKFS played a prominent role in major social movements, including the 2014 class boycott that helped trigger the Occupy Central protests.

That campaign led to a 79-day sit-in in the Central business district, with demonstrators calling for universal suffrage and democratic reforms.

Student unions also played a significant role in the large-scale and sometimes violent protests that swept Hong Kong in 2019.

Many of those unions later shrank or ceased operations after the national security law was introduced in 2020, a measure critics say has curtailed dissent.

In December 2025, a student union at Hong Kong Baptist University was ordered to suspend operations after posting a condolences message following a fire that killed 168 people.

Several other student unions have announced their dissolution in recent months, citing sustained pressure and universities’ refusal to recognise their status.

The Hong Kong Centre for Human Rights said these developments reflected “sustained and systematic pressure” that has steadily reduced space for student organisations.

In a statement, the centre said HKFS had faced political pressure since the 2014 Umbrella Movement, including a wave of member withdrawals in 2015 and repeated operational disruptions.

“The dissolution of HKFS marks a further disintegration of Hong Kong’s student movement under political pressure,” the group said, calling it another example of systemic pressure on civil society.

The centre urged the international community to closely monitor the situation and called on the Hong Kong government to safeguard freedom of association.

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